Cody Rhodes and his wife Brandi left AEW on February 15, 2022. A month later, Rhodes signed a contract with WWE. On the first night of WrestleMania 38, Rhodes made his epic WWE return in a winning effort against Seth Rollins.
Reigning TNT Champion Darby Allin had wrestled Cody four times under the AEW banner. The inaugural battle positioned Allin as a promising future star while the final match saw Sting’s protégé dethrone The American Nightmare.
Speaking on his What Happened When podcast, AEW commentator Tony Schiavone discussed Allin creating his own vignettes for AEW programming. The vignette Allin created before his TNT Title rematch with Samoa Joe featured footage of Rhodes. Schiavone noted that something like that would have never happened in WCW since Cody is now contracted to WWE.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
Tony Schiavone on Darby Allin using footage of Cody Rhodes: “There was a snippet of Cody [Rhodes] in that … I remember thinking that would have never happened back in the day. Never. There was no way that would have happened.”
Tony Schiavone on not knowing Michael Hayes had been let go by WCW until he asked: “Guys would show up and then not show up, you know? It was, ‘Oh, look who’s here, and look who’s not here.’ Today, working in the front office, I would know all about it. Back then as an announcer, you would just pick up things. ‘Where’s Michael Hayes?’ ‘Oh, he’s no longer here.’ I remember even asking Jimmy Crockett sometimes, ‘Where is so and so?’ ‘Oh, he’s no longer with us, and do not mention his name at all ever again,’ I would go, ‘Okay.’”
